Asylum seekers abandon hunger strike on Nauru

Asylum seekers abandon hunger strike on Nauru

An asylum seeker at Australia's immigration processing centre on Nauru says only one asylum seeker at the centre is continuing with his hunger strike.

Refugee experts from Amnesty International are heading to Nauru to determine the human rights situation at the Australian processing centre for asylum seekers. (Credit: ABC)

Audio: Will Ockenden speaks to experts and hunger strikers about the protest on Nauru

Immigration authorities have serious concerns about the health of a man who's refused food for more than a month as part of an on-going hunger strike on Nauru. The Iranian asylum seeker, known as Omid, hasn't eaten for 33 days.An asylum seeker on Nauru told the ABC hundreds of other detainees still haven't eaten this month, and 24 men transferred to detention on Nauru yesterday have joined the hunger strike. The Immigration Department disputes the figures. (Credit: ABC)

Said Muhammad from Pakistan told the ABC he and his fellow detainees decided to eat again, after receiving confirmation that Amnesty International will travel to the facility to hear their concerns.

Mr Muhammad says only one man - an Iranian named Omid - is continuing to refuse food.

He says Omid has not eaten in 32 days, and although doctors are concerned for Omid's health he remains at the detention centre.

"Right now you will find him like a skeleton body and he say that it is better to die instead of leaving him in Nauru," he said.

"Last time the doctor told him that very soon your heart and brain will stop working."

New arrivals

There had been earlier reports that 24 new asylum seeker arrivals had joined the hunger strike on Nauru.

The group - comprised of men from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Sri Lanka - was transferred from the northern Australian city of Darwin on Monday.

There are now 386 people at the facility, and asylum seekers claimed that at the peak of the protest 305 of them were refusing food.

Australia's immigration department disputed that figure, and said that the actual number was much lower.

Amnesty visit

Amnesty International has said it is highly concerned about the asylum seekers and will send two experts to Nauru next week.

They will visit the processing centre and speak to Australian immigration officials, health and aid workers, representatives of Nauru's Government, as well as the men housed at the facility.

Dr Graham Thom, the watchdog's refugee spokesperson and refugee policy expert, said the Australian immigration department has facilitated visits to its other centres in the past, and he is currently working with them to finalise the details for meetings on Nauru.

"We really want to be very transparent, but we want to see firsthand what's going on, what is the situation and what's happening on the ground, how are people being treated, what are the conditions that's facing them day-to-day and obviously look into concerns around hunger strikes and other things that we're hearing in the media."

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